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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Cover Crazy: Bitterblue

Cover Crazy is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Worms on Mondays. The idea is to showcase a beautiful book cover each week.

This week, I'm crazy about...Bitterblue, by Kristin Cashore

I'm a little late with Cover Crazy this week, but I wanted to talk a bit about the cover for the upcoming release Bitterblue, and I had a lot to say. As the release date has crept ever closer, I've realized how much more wonderful this cover is than it first seems - even as great as the first glance may be.

It matches the first two covers in the trilogy really well both in style and content. Each cover shows part of the face of the protagonist together with their weapon of choice. The cover of Bitterblue shows Bitterblue herself, almost hidden in the background. The most visible part of her face is her eye, looking through the key ring almost as if spying through a hole in the wall.

It's clear that keys are important symbolically and perhaps literally as well in Bitterblue. In addition, the keys double as weapons, which again has multiple meanings. The keys themselves may be used as weapons; or perhaps the information that the keys reveal are powerful and dangerous. Another meaning one may derive from the weaponlike keys is that one must use force or arms to unlock the secrets the keys protect. And finally, the keys (and the access, and the information) are Bitterblue's weapon of choice.

I also love the way the cover shows a mix of delicacy and strength. The flowers, Bitterblue's face, and the author's name are all delicate, unobtrusive, and slightly feminine; the keyring and the tops of the keys seem to be a nod to Bitterblue's royal status; and the weaponlike ends of the keys and the boldly placed title are references to the character's strength.

Want to know more about Bitterblue?

Summary (from Goodreads):
Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

What do you think of the cover for Bitterblue?
Leave your thoughts in the comments!